How Horseless Carriages Took Off

At the turn of the 20th century, almost no one had a car in Seattle. There weren’t traffic laws or paved roads, and at first, only the wealthiest people could own these “horseless carriages.” 

Within a couple of decades, though, cars were everywhere, and Pacific Northwesterners were using their cars for all kinds of intrepid adventures, from long-haul road trips to mountainside camping. 

Cascade PBS’s resident historian Knute Berger took a look at early car culture in our region in a recent episode of the Mossback’s Northwest video series, but there’s much more left to explore. 

In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss when the very first cars showed up in Washington and what those cars were like. They dig into some of the earliest (and most treacherous) road trips; the day cars were turned away from Mount Rainier National Park; pioneering women drivers of the era; and the newfangled camping gear that manufacturers raced to produce for the region’s ever-outdoorsy drivers.  

For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you’d like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today.

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Credits

Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger

Producer: Sara Bernard

Story editor: Sarah Menzies